


On The Shujin Rooftop, Where No One Could See

by roylitchi



Category: Persona 5
Genre: (refrences the kamoshida incident and everything yknow), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drabble, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Suicide, no beta and minor proofread we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 13:50:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19724944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roylitchi/pseuds/roylitchi
Summary: Mishima has a breakdown on the school rooftop because his life kinda sucks and no one gives him the appreciation he deserves for all his hard work (in fact he's mostly just belittled and ignored by his supposed "best friend", the leader of the Phantom thieves.) Fortunately for him, a kind soul usually comes to the rooftop after school to work on her garden.





	On The Shujin Rooftop, Where No One Could See

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutout to the shuyuu discord we all love mishima and want him to have an actual supportive friend.

The plants someone had put in nice gardening beds was the first thing Mishima had noticed upon opening the door to the rooftop of Shujin academy. Pink roses had begun to bloom intertwined in the fence (making Mishima wonder how often this place was checked anyways) and it appeared some sort of root vegetable was growing in the planters a little off to the other side. Mishima did not come to admire the plants, although their calming influence may make sure this ended quickly. Mishima shuffled over to the other end of the roof and knelt down. On the other side of a heater, making sure he was out of view of the door. He curled into his knees and began to cry.

The rooftop was a special place for him, and not quite in a good way. He had lost a lot up here. He had _almost_ lost a good friend. It was only a couple months ago that Suzui couldn't take any more of Kamoshida's abuse and jumped off the rooftop, in itself it almost sickened Mishima to tears how little they cared about whichever student came to visit the rooftop even after the incident. But he also actually did lose something up here, he lost a chance. He was told that the phantom thieves used to meet up here after school, the phantom thieves that he was starting to realize more and more didn't appreciate his presence so much as tolerate his appearance there, as someone so vital to the team everyone seemed so desperate to cut him loose. It was painful to act like he didn't notice his "friend's" neutral or even sometimes rude answers to things he would say or ask, obliviously wrong to ask and innocent alike.

"You're the phantom thieves, right?" He would ask, innocently and quietly after he not two weeks ago heard Akira vaguely mention to Ryuji an "other way" to avoid expulsion after standing up to Kamoshida

"I don't know what you're talking about." He would answer. Mishima kind of had the feeling he would try to play dumb but it hurt in it's own special way. To make his resentment grow more, right after Akira and Ryuji left the scene, he was left alone with Kamoshida. It was painfully ironic how he owed his life to someone who evidently could care less about it. Mishima shuddered and tried to think to other times before his little breakdown could turn into a full blown panic attack.

Akira would approach him and talk to him so Mishima was fooled for a while thinking Akira actually had any interest in him at all, but Akira would just use him as the Phansite and if he seemed to be in a particularly asshole-ish mood, belittle him too. Mishima would just smile and ignore it, like he was practically trained at this point to do. He was able to do it in far worse situations than this, he was able to do it now.

And then, after Akira went off on him one day about seeking fame too much, he never came back to talk with him, barely even looked at him in the same class. Mishima hadn't thought about it too much then but it seemed to make sense. This was his fault. He _was_ becoming too fame obsessed, he _was_ constantly obsessing over the phansite, deleting anything remotely phantom thief critical. He _was_ trying to grasp for straws for random hearts to steal. It became so clear when Akira put it this way. He said it out loud even, to internalize it. Barely above a whimper.

"It's all my fault."

"Um, excuse me?" A soft, sweet voice called out from the other side of the heater, "Don't worry! I won't get you in trouble!" She seemed to hear him react to the sudden voice. "I just wanted to make sure you were going to be ok."

The world fell silent for a while, Mishima had been noticed.

Mishima took a deep, shaky breath and cleared his throat, unclenching his fists that he didn't notice were balling up his oversized uniform sweater. "U-um... yeah... Don't worry... I'm not going to do anything stupid."

There was a small pause.

"Thats good. Do you want to come over to the other side? I'm gardening right now, I know that relieves stress for me a little bit."

Another small pause.

Mishima slowly stood up, took another deep breath and walked over to the other side of the heater. There stood a short girl with fluffy strawberry hair, and wide dark brown eyes, she smiled at him and dusted off her uniform. "I was just working on watering the carrots. Would you be a dear and water the other flower bed for me?" She gestured toward the other watering can she seemed to fill prematurely, as if she were planning for him to accept her offer.

"Yes, thank you." Mishima half smiled (The best smile one could manage after a small breakdown) And took the watering can. It was a rather warm day, the sun made him lightly aware of its rays on top of his head and back as he stooped by each sprout in the dirt and watered a little. He found the repetitive nature of the task rather soothing. Soon he was able to subconsciously breathe slower in time with the task at hand. And after he was done, he looked up and saw the girl was already done with her side.

"Thank you for helping me!" She smiled again, she had a very sweet smile.

Mishima, now that he calmed down, realized he hadn't even introduced himself. "You're welco- oh! I'm Yuuki Mishima, It's nice to meet you."

The girl giggled at his little slip up, not in a malicious way, but in a way that was oddly appreciative. "Hello, Mishima! My name is Haru Okumura, It's nice to meet you too!"

Haru Okumura? _that_ Haru Okumura?

"Yes, _that_ Haru Okumura." Haru sighed, of course she could read Mishima's mind like that, she probably gets that immediate response every time she introduces herself to students.

"Sorry!" Mishima squeaked out.

"No, you're fine." Haru replied.

The two of them sat leaning back on a flower bed. Mishima decidedly had concluded that Haru was only being nice and making sure Mishima really was okay, Undoubtedly Haru had also had an unvoiced realization connected to his name as Mishima too had a reputation.

"Have you ever heard of the Phantom Thieves Mishima?" Haru questioned, it was a typical conversation starter from what Mishima had heard others talk about with their friends, it was nice to be treated like a normal person like this.

"Yeah I have! I'm kind of a big fan..." Mishima said, his brain forgetting the bittersweetness of what he had just been brooding over, he was pretty sure it was just his anxiety anyways.

"Really?" Haru smiled, "I'm quite a fan myself, the concept of being able to change someone's heart and make them confess their sins with their own mouth seems so... extraordinary! It's honestly quite thrilling to think about."

"Yeah, the phantom thieves are pretty cool!" Mishima smiled and nodded back. Haru's smile was contagious. "Is there anyone's heart you'd like to change, Haru?"

Somehow, whether they had been connected by the mortifying ordeal of being known to the public or they were both just the type to overshare to anyone who looked like someone who it was okay to overshare to on the shujin rooftop where no one could see or hear, after another small pause.

Haru confessed. "Well, I actually... Had been requesting someone in the phansite. They never got to it though..."

Mishima's gut wrenched, out came his first confession. "Oh, sorry... Don't tell anyone, your Father seemed pretty anti-Phantom Thief... I actually run the Phansite..."

Haru seemed suprised. "Oh? I hope you don't mind a more in person request... But I have been in an awfully tricky situation..."

Haru then told him of her tricky situation. She actually would not tell her father that he was in direct connection to the phantom thieves, she actually was quite keen on the idea of changing her father's heart! Her father planned on selling her off to a crude and abhorrent man only for his own political gain, and she wasn't quite sure whether she wanted to change the heart of her father or change the heart of the awful man she would be forced to be married to.

"I would tell the phantom thieves directly and let them decide amongst themselves but I don't think they'll listen to me anymore..." Mishima's heart sank into his stomach again, remembering what he had been crying about not a couple hours ago.

"Why is that?" Haru tilted her head in curiosity, soft eyes gazing at him with wonder and undivided attention.

Mishima then told her about his own situation, his own struggle against the Phantom thieves and the dispute, the apathy toward him despite all that he had done, and his own terrible mistakes. But something was different from every other time he did this song and dance about all his little sob stories. Haru looked at him with sympathy in her eyes, she nodded and reacted with her face as the story went. He couldn't tell if Haru had just grown accustomed to acting interested— as he figured she would have to know how to do, being who she was— or she was genuinely listening to him. But the way she would add little interjections into his story about her own input sometimes, her own empathies toward his situation, made him more inclined to believe it was the latter. It made him feel listened to, being listened to felt nice.

"Oh that sounds horrible..." Haru said sympathetically, "I can understand where you're coming from though. I don't know a lot about technology but you must work very hard finding new missions for the phantom thieves all by yourself. And you got no appreciation for it at all it seems."

Mishima looked down at his shoes "yeah.."

"You don't deserve to be treated like that at all." Haru said. "However if you do go back to the Phantom Thieve now you can not ignore my requests because you know their legitimacy! It would be hard to get them to listen to you though I suppose."

Mishima sighed "Yeah."

Haru looked up to the sky, the sun was beginning to set. "I probably shouldn't stay here too late, People will think I've gone missing." And got up.But before Mishima could think Haru was just going to abandon him she smiled and looked at him, "If you ever want to help me garden again I usually go to the rooftop after school every day I can. And I'll even give you some of the carrots I'm growing after they've grown!"

Mishima looked up at her "Really? That would be fun! I'd love to do that!"

Haru giggled "I'll look forward to it then!" She then waved. "Goodbye, Mishima!"

Mishima waved back "Goodbye, Okumura!"

Mishima didn't even have to clean up after the talk had ended, they had done it together a little while back while they were sharing their stories. Mishima now smiled Haru's contagious, beaming smile even after she had left. He looked at the work they had done, the carrots in the two large flower beds, the roses scattering around fences around the shujin academy rooftop. He walked out the door and down the stairs, the hallways awfully quiet. Usually on any other day such a walk so late after school (which really could have only happened a couple months prior, during his little fight with hell on earth) was filled with shame, fear, guilt. But this time was different. He felt something that would be a pipe dream for the Mishima of a couple months ago, freshly opened wounds throbbing on his skin or a freshly opened heartbreak throbbing on his soul.

Mishima felt hopeful.


End file.
